Howe Prepares for A's Rebuilding Challenge

Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 29, 1996

The A's Opening Night starter will be Carlos Reyes. Anything else you need to know?

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys, but facts are facts: Heading into the 1996 season, the A's are a straight line waiting for a joke.

How many A's outfielders does it take to run down a ball in the gap?

Just one, so long as you give him a head start.

How many Oakland starters do you need to satisfy a mob of autograph-seekers?

Only Doug Johns. If he signs his name the right way, proud fans will walk away thinking they've had a brush with that old Dodger guy who has the most famous reconstructed elbow on the planet.

Manager Art Howe knows exactly what he is in for this season. He has gone the young and rebuilding route before as the Houston Astros' manager. He just can't seem to let the gibes, jests and less kind remarks get under his skin.

"We'll have the last laugh," he said one morning during spring training in Arizona, showing a flash of something other than his trademark geniality.

This is Howe's team. General manager Sandy Alderson exercises plenty of power, and his presence is always felt, but the tone set by Howe will mean everything.

Pitching coach Bob Cluck, every bit as much a Howe guy as Dave Duncan was a Tony La Russa guy, will have to work wonders with a patched-together staff with no big-league time to speak of and only so-so talent. But Howe and Cluck know their game and here's one prediction that they will succeed dramatically this season -- success in this case being defined as winning 85 games and avoiding any stretches of free-fall.

The medical news on Mark McGwire's injured right foot continues to be good. He could be back as early as May 1 and with him, the A's at least have a batting order that people have to take seriously. This team ranked second in the American League in spring-training home runs -- and that was without McGwire.

McGwire, Terry Steinbach and Geronimo Berroa are known commodities. The key will be such young players as Jason Giambi and Pedro Munoz, who could go either way this season. Both have had good springs and seem to thrive under Howe. "It's easy for anyone to play for someone like that, because he just asks you to play hard," Munoz said.

"Since we're a younger team, we go out there to make the most of every game," Giambi said. "I think when you've got guys in the lineup who are hungry, it rubs off on everyone."

Howe is Gerald Ford to Tony La Russa's Richard Nixon, unblinkingly open and honest when the guy who came before him had a penchant for mind games and secrecy for secrecy's sake. La Russa won a World Series and has a reputation nearly as elevated as his self- image. Howe hasn't won much of anything, but he's a baseball man to the core and has a light touch.

"In Houston when we rebuilt, there was a lot of criticism," Howe said. "But if you go to Houston today, you'll see they're proud of what transpired. . . . Everybody is different. It's nice to know the organization feels I can follow a manager of Tony's stature. Part of the job is handling that situation. It's not always easy. You know there are going to be comparisons. But I feel good about my way of running a ballclub."

The quick take on Howe's style is that he's a likable lightweight. People who have spent any time around him know better. He even makes jokes about La Russa, who wore No. 10 in his days with the A's and pulled down $1.5 million, the highest salary for a baseball manager.

"This says No. 18, not No. 10," Howe cracked the other day as an allusion to his more modest income, pointing to the back of his uniform.

Fans will enjoy hearing Howe talk about his team. He apparently missed the Managing 101 lecture on dissembling to the public. He's honest in the extreme.

Who's going to bat first in the A's lineup? La Russa would have said: "There's a lot of ways I can go there. I'm excited about putting Ernie Young in the leadoff spot."

Said Howe: "We don't legitimately have a leadoff man. Let's face it, we'll do the best with what we have."

Does talk like that send shivers down the spine of fans? Maybe, but since bluff and bluster are so small a part of Howe's game, fans just might be willing to look at the reality of a low-expectation season and see where it takes them.